POLI 110M: Green Political Thought Winter 2015 MWF 12-1pm Pepper Canyon Hall 120

Transcription

1 POLI 110M: Green Political Thought Winter 2015 MWF 12-1pm Pepper Canyon Hall 120 Instructor: Kyle Haines Office Hours: SSB 349, 1-2, By Appointment Overview: This class is intended to serve as a critical introduction to a series of themes loosely grouped as Green Political Thought, or the politics of the environment. In it, we will survey a series of debates and attempt to connect them to the political theory behind ongoing social-ecological issues. The goals of this course are as follows: Understanding relationships between social, economic, and ecological systems and how they implicate political agency. Understanding the history of environmental movements in the US and learning to recognize and analyze ecological politics in the developing world. Seeing local issues as representative of deeper historical debates and the local as a site of possible engagement. Learning to effectively communicate the political ramifications of ecological crises. Seeing one s fellow students as co-educators, learning to take valuable lessons from the diverse perspectives presented by both educators and classmates. You will be expected to: Contribute to class discussions. Prepare written analyses of important problems in environmental politics. Come prepared to class having reviewed the readings assigned. Watch one movie per week. Your commitment will define what you get out of this I encourage you to take advantage of the resources at your disposal to work on something you care about and actively engage with your studies. Note on plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious offense and will be punished to the full extent of University policies. All assignments will be run through Turnitin.com to check for originality, and offending papers will receive an F with zero points. It is better to turn in something unfinished or poorly written than to risk jeopardizing your grade in the Unfortunately, I am very familiar with the process of reporting to academic probation, and all punitive options will be pursued to their fullest. Please do not waste my time and yours, do your own work. Readings: John Dryzek, 1997, Politics of the Earth: Environmental Discourses, 2nd Edition (Available in bookstore) All other readings on ERES. Password: kh110m

2 Assignments and Grade Structure: 15% 4 Quizzes: (5 points each, worst dropped) Short passage identifications. Give author, context, and connection to class for full points. 15% 3 Short Reactions (5 points each) 1 page double spaced putting two of the week s readings into conversation. Explain what the main point of each paper is, then make some observation about how they connect. Choose one outstanding quote from each. Prepare in advance. 5% Essay Prep (5 points) Single page with thesis and potential outline due in class before midterm. 65% 2 Essays 1. Midterm (25 points) Due of Week pages on topic selected. 2. Final (40 points) Due of Finals Week 6-8 pages on topic selected Research project, pick topic by week 7, outline due week 8, ted talk short presentations week 10, paper due on day of final ( of finals week) by 230pm Due to Turnitin.com (no paper copies) by noon the day listed. Class id: Password: kh110m Class Schedule: Week I: Introduction to Green Political Thought 1/5/15 1/7/15 1/9/15 What is political theory and what makes it green? Rachel Carson Selection A brief history of environmental John Muir Selection movements in the US (both ed) Dryzek Pages 1-8 Week II: Limits and the State of our World 1/12/15 1/14/15 1/16/15 Activist research and specific intellectuals in green politics Reaction 1 assigned. Movie: Mad Max (1979) Club of Rome 1972 The Population and the limits to Reaction 1 due at Limits to Growth (Selection) growth thesis Johan Rockstrom et al 2009 Quantifying the limits of human A Safe Operating Space for carrying capacity Humanity 2014 Worldwatch Report (Selection) Will Steffen et al 2007 The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature? A new era of human influence? Quiz 1 at start of Movie: Children of Men (2006)

3 Week III: The Politics of Survival 1/19/15 1/21/15 1/23/15 Dryzek Ch. 2 Survivalism No Class. MLK Holiday. (pg ) Robert Heilbroner 1977 Survivalism and the birth of the What Has Posterity Ever global ecological problematic Done for Me? ( ed) James Lovelock 2006 The Revenge of Gaia (Selection) A new Survivalist epoch? Week IV: Technology: Savior or Exterminator? 1/26/15 1/28/15 1/30/15 Movie: Armageddon (1997) Dryzek Ch. 3 Prometheans Understanding the double-edged (pg ) nature of technological progress Julian Simon 1994 More The Promethean challenge to the People, Greater Wealth, green apocalypse More Resources, a Healthier Environment Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger 2009 Apocalypse Fatigue Week V: The Politics of Nature 2/2/15 2/4/15 2/6/15 Modern Promethean narratives Quiz 2 at start of Midterm assigned. Movie: T2: Judgment Day (1991) Mancur Olsen 1963 Logic of The logic of centralization and Midterm outline Collective Action (Selection) call for green authoritarianism prep due. Andre Gorz 1980 Ecology as Arguments from the post- Politics (Selection) Stalinist green left Rudolph Bahro 1984 Red to Green (Selection) Douglas Torgerson 2008 Constituting Green Democracy Dryzek Ch. 11 Ecological Democracy (pg ) Week VI: Politics and Ecology The promise and peril of green democracy Midterm due. Movie: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 or 2008) 2/9/15 Aldo Leopold 1949 A Sand County Almanac (Selection) Ecology and ethics: Leopold s Land Ethic Reaction 2 Due at 2/11/15 Kurt Jax 2011 The History of Ecology Ecology as a natural science Guest lecturer from Scripps. Piers Blaikie 1995 Changing Political ecology in the new Movie: Day After

4 2/13/15 Environments or Changing Views? A Political Ecology for Developing Countries millennium Tomorrow (2004) Week VII: Science and Politics 2/16/15 2/18/15 2/20/15 Reading due Lecture Topic. Quizzes/Assignments No Presidents Day Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change AR5 Policymakers (available online) Naomi Oreskes 2007 The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change Week VIII: Scale and Ecorrhea 1/12/15 1/14/15 1/16/15 Guest Lecture: Yassir Eddebbar, Scripps Climate Scientist Navigating the complicated relationship between science and politics Final topic due. Quiz 3 at start of Reaction 3 assigned. Movie: Dante s Peak (1997) The problem of scale in green Reaction 3 due at political analysis Peter Berg and Raymond Bioregionalism and localist Outline of final Dasmann 1977 arguments project due. Reinhabiting California EF Schumacher 1971 Small is Beautiful (Selection) Wilfred Beckerman 1995 Small is Stupid: Blowing the Whistle on the Greens Is small stupid? The logic of nested regions and subsidiarity Movie: Deep Impact (1998) Week IX: Resilience and Adaptive Governance in the Anthropocene 3/2/15 3/4/15 3/6/15 CS Holling 1973 Resilience Getting beyond static equilibrium Quiz 4 at start of and Stability of Ecological metaphors Systems Carl Folke et al 2002 Governing complexity and Adaptive Governance Dipesh Chakrabarty 2009 Climate of History: Four Theses Week X: Outro and Project Presentations 3/9/15 applying resilience theory Development in focus: Decolonizing political theory Movie: Interstellar (2014) or Wall-E (2008) Elinor Ostrom et al 2007 Assessing Resilience in the Face Beyond Panaceas of Ecological Decline Hannah Arendt 1958 The

5 3/11/15 3/13/15 Human Condition (Selection) Communicating research Communicating research Presentations Presentations Final: Wed 3/18/ Final paper due online to TURNITIN.com.